The photos below are from our own archive and are not directly associated with the petition – SAV.

Why this is important

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA IS ABOUT TO IMPLEMENT CHANGES TO THEIR ANIMAL PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT THAT MEAN SLAUGHTER OF HEALTHY STRAYS AND ONGOING MISUSE OF FUNDS INTENDED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THESE ANIMALS. TO STOP THIS LAW COMING INTO EFFECT IT IS CRITICAL WE LOBBY THE BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA AUTHORITIES NOW.

PETITION LETTER, TO BE SUBMITTED TO EU AND BIH PARLIAMENT AND EMBASSIES WORLDWIDE:

For some time in Bosnia and Herzegovina mass hysteria about stray animals has been systematically created by continuous political and media propaganda that aims to get public attention and direct citizens away from more pressing problems: unemployment, the failing economy, organised crime, corruption, failure of institutions to implement laws, the crime rate, which is continuously increasing.

Instead public attention is directed to those who cannot defend themselves, who are not guilty because they are abandoned and who are themselves victims of a dysfunctional and corrupt system in Bosnia and Herzegovina: the stray animal populations.

The burgeoning stray animal population, that has been caused by people is being publicised as an “animal problem”.

For months certain political parties and media spread hatred against stray dogs in particular, and intentionally are causing fear and hatred. Authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have almost no interest in a humane reduction of stray animals.

The large number of stray animals on the streets of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a direct consequence of a failure to implement the existing Animal Protection and Welfare Act. It is a fact that an increasing number of stray dogs on the streets is always a direct consequence of the failure to implement preventative measures which are provided by this Animal Protection and Welfare Act.

And instead of making provisions to implement the law, a proposal for changes and amendments to the Animal Protection and Welfare Law has been made by Nermina Zaimović – Uzunović, a member of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly and a member of the Social Democratic Party, amendments which contain primitive and inhumane provisions for the euthanasia of healthy stray animals that are fostered in shelters if they are not adopted in 14 days.

This provision is not enforceable or advisable in practice because of the following reasons:

1) Euthanasia deals only with symptoms but not the causes of stray animal population problems. It will not lead to population management and must not be relied upon as a sole response to such problems. The focus of euthanasia of healthy stray dogs is on the consequence, not the cause of the problem. If causes that lead to the abandonment of animals are not resolved, the problem will continue. if those who are responsible for the implementation of the Animal Protection Act of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the media and political parties are only focused on consequences and not on the causes, the problem of stray animals will not be solved by any method.

2) Euthanasia as a way to manage the population of abandoned animals is five times more expensive than the implementation of TNR / CNR methods (catch – spay/neuter – release) and the construction of shelters for stray animals–which should function as centres for the adoption of stray animals.

Does this mean there is money for killing stray animals, but there is no money to implement the existing Animal Protection and Welfare Law? The proposed amendments do not lay out a financing plan nor do they offer money-saving solutions. The costs of euthanasia are 30% higher than those of neutering/spaying.

3) Nowhere in the world has euthanasia solved the problem of stray dogs for any period of time.

4) In Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in other parts of the world, there is no system that would efficiently and without consequences to the environment solve the problem of vast amounts of biological waste resulting from mass euthanasia. The proposed amendments to the BiH Animal Welfare Act do not include any mechanism that would allow the country to remove corpses of dead animals in large numbers, no provision for financing such a project.

In practice what does the implementation of these the proposed amendments to the BiH Animal Welfare Law mean?

This proposal aims to provide a carte blanche for the mass killing of stray animals, and to conveniently put aside four years of inaction regarding the implementation of the existing Animal Protection and Welfare Law. The existing law includes provisions for identification and registration of ownership of dogs. Irresponsible owners abandoning dogs and owners refusing to sterilise their free-roaming dogs are some of the main causes of the stray dog population problem. The proposer of the new amendments does not mention these issues, nor offers a plan for improvement of implementation of the existing provisions. This means the problem will keep occurring: the cause is being ignored and only the result is being addressed.

Also, this proposal removes responsibility for the above mentioned inaction from the lower levels of government, the veterinary profession, inspections and police, a responsibility and its implementation which is clearly and precisely provided by the existing Animal Protection and Welfare Law.

It was clear even to the minister who proposed the disputed new provisions and her political party that implementation of the provisions of the euthanasia of healthy stray animals is technically and financially impossible. Humane euthanasia practises are costly — this requires trained professionals and expensive drugs. Dogs in shelters are known to be ‘euthanised’ inhumanely in a number of ways including clubbing. Images from other state shelters show starving dogs and dog corpses left amongst living dogs.

The new amendments are intended to mask the massacres of stray animals that will occur. The proposed amendments clearly reveal considerable inconsistencies. For example, keeping the obligation to invest in mass neutering, but also dictating obligatory allocation of funds to euthanise these very same dogs.

The existing Animal Protection and Welfare Law is an absolutely enforceable and functional law and it is not enforced because of political interests. After four years from adoption and entry into force of the Animal Protection and Welfare Law, there are continued obstructions to its implementation. Also, enormous funds have been laundered through the so-called shelters for stray animals, whose owners, directors, managers, are people close to the local municipal authorities.

The building of shelters for stray animals is, in fact, supposed to be completed in all cities by May, 2010. They are not completed. The proposed new amendments for euthanasia of healthy stray animals will provide income to complete work that should have been done over 3 years ago: dogs will be inhumanely killed in order to allow for this redirection of the use of the money to build shelters. Moreover new shelters will certainly continue to be completely inadequate for the health and well-being of dogs kept there, as has been documented regarding existing shelters all over the country, both new and old.

Furthermore, the European Union provides the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina with many millions of euros worth of financial aid each year. The allocation for 2012 was around €107.8m. Our understanding of the provisos attached to these aid packages is that there is a requirement for the recipient country to abide by EU laws which would include the laws related to animal welfare.

If EU funding is being abused, why should tax payers money be promoting a regime which has no intention of upholding our standards of animal welfare and who seek to become members of the EU in the near future? What is going on here, with millions of Euros going to waste and animal suffering combined?

In the 2nd reading and voting on the proposed amendments to the of Animal Protection and Welfare Law which was held on 20th November, 19 representatives in House of representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina were against the new amendments, 22 of them were for, but there was not an entity majority from Republic of Srpska so the law was not changed. Since there was not entity majority, new voting will be on 5th December, 2013.

If the BiH Parliament votes for proposed amendments, there will be significantly negative consequences for the strays of the country, providing easy routes to continued inhumane ‘euthanasia’ of healthy strays (even those who have already been through spay-neuter programs!) and continued misuse of funds intended for the benefit of the strays.

Can you raise these issues to your counterparts in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and in EU Parliament, and comment as to how this situation appears to be on going and unaddressed?

Immediate international pressure on representatives of the BiH Parliament who are for “the kill law“ is extremely important in order to influence them to change their attitude towards the proposed amendments, and to seek, rather, to implement all provisos of what is a very good Animal Welfare Act.

The autopsy is mandatory by official duty in every case of crime.

I insist on abduction-autopsy .

Thanks.

Regards

Slavica

This is a receipt for the mail you sent to

This receipt verifies that the message has been displayed on the

recipient’s computer at 9/19/2017 9:51 AM

Here is a photograph of a stray dog which was killed by the driver of a car in Belgrade. As you can see from the photo; it appears that the driver of the car just walked away from the incident, leaving the animal under the wheels of the vehicle.

Slavica (EPAR) in Serbia; and also ourselves, have written to the Belgrade authorities to ask what actions they and the police are taking. It is clear from the photo the vehicle details; so the police should have no problem identifying and contacting the driver / owner.

We have given the authorities until 30/9/17 to provide us with an update of actions. If we have not heard anything back from them by then, we will have no option but to involve supporters.

SAV Comment: We know from our past expose of the situation for exported live animals to Turkey that this is a nation that generally does not give a damn about animal suffering. One good man is doing what he can to help, but he is now a target for authorities who are neglecting their responsibilities. Please watch the video via the link below – the situation is desperate. Remember, this is a nation that wants to join the EU – and abide by EU rules on animal welfare ! – like yeah, reckon !!!

Video footage – Warning – **Graphic** –

When I received a desperate plea for help from a Turkish supporter, I could not imagine the hell my team would discover.

In a 19-square-mile area around Tavsanli in south eastern Turkey, we found 10,000 dogs clinging to survival, amongst the decomposing remains of bodies dumped by 200 chicken farms.

Half eaten corpses are strewn everywhere. Food poisoning is rife. Puppies are constantly born and dying. The dogs are so desperate that they even resort to cannibalism. It is one of the worst animal tragedies I have ever seen.

The law says that the authorities must help, but they do not. 10,000 dogs have no food, no veterinary care, and no shelter. But with your support, they will have hope.

Until now, just ONE MAN was attempting to help. Necdet Demirat fed the dogs whenever he could, but it was a drop in the ocean. Clearly massive assistance is needed, but when Necdet reached out to the local municipality for support, they turned on him in the most cruel and unexpected way.

Shockingly, the local authority is attempting to shift the blame, and are accusing Necdet of killing the dogs to harm their image. Now Necdet has to defend himself in court.

I seldom cry but this sickening situation has tipped me over the edge. This heartless and callous action against dogs and those that try to help them simply has no place in our world.

One of the things that struck me most is that these dogs have no reason to love humans, but when my team arrived they rushed to greet them, hoping against hope that salvation was at hand.

Network for Animals can only win the fight for these victims with your support. We have begun feeding pockets of dogs healthy food, but the overwhelming scale of the problem is unimaginably beyond our means.

I have already instructed my team to take on diplomatic work, urging the Turkish government to stop chicken farms dumping dead bodies in fields, and to offer the dogs the support they need. Our chances of convincing the government are slim, but we will not give up.

“Do not forbid yourself anything – Do not let anyone forbid you anything.”

A week ago, I read this sentence on an Austrian web page, it came from a carnivore, who had spoken about “food culture”.

To this saying I have a few thoughts: Meat eating and the torture associated with it, have nothing to do with culture or with “life value”. To build a discussion at this level, shows just how primitive, asocial, and less intelligent the commentators are. After the numerous undercover investigations by experienced animal rights activists on the medieval conditions that still prevail in the animal factories, both the stupid and the unscrupulous should have stopped eating animals. But that is not the point.

The dark side of meat is the political side.

The infantile slogan for flesh eating: ” Do not forbid yourself anything – Do not let anyone forbid you anything”, is the reduction of human freedom on the primitive level of oral freedom, and the best method of the system to manipulate and fool its useful idiots.

How else could this system have kept his servants satisfied, if it does not persuade them that the freedom to choose between roast pork, foie gras or trout fillets is their hard-won freedom of liberty?

Above – Force Feeding Foie Gras Geese

You must not exceed the speed limits, you must not drive with red, you must not smoke in restaurants … our daily life consists only of prohibitions, some good, some bad. For this reason alone, one must be an absolute fool, if one thinks that is a free man, because no one can forbid him the flesh eating.

Meat eating is not a private thing, as many claims.

It is the cooperation with meat and milk mafia, with illegal practices in the slaughterhouses, with pigs- and chicken barons, with the multimillionaires of the animal transport mafia, that all is the problem, and that is a political problem … and a moral one.

All these people are not only the masters of torture and sadism; they are the instances, that enslave the third world with their criminal function, force millions of people into hunger, and last but not least, responsible for the deadly destruction of the planet. In this case, it is not privacy with whom one cooperates, so it is not a private matter, whether someone eats meat or not;

It is a fact that one cooperates with a fascist system if one supports these corrupt instances.

This ridiculous slogan, ” Do not forbid yourself anything – Do not let anyone forbid you anything” is nothing else but the systematic thought-pace-maker of the system for billions of stupid and submissive citizens, who have no idea of either animal ethics or political freedom and dignity.

UPDATE 5/9/17 – Event now CANCELLED Due To Public Pressure.

Read more at

SAV Comment

Possums were introduced to NZ by humans from Australia in 1837 – wow what a surprise ! – man knows best, introduces a non native species and then years later the same humans call it a ‘pest’. Some would call it Karma.

Yes they do cause damage to natural flora and some fauna; but we are putting this petition out because of the fact that very young children are being encouraged to hunt and kill animals.

What we ask does this teach young kids about their natural wildlife ?

Does it teach kids to think that killing is a natural way of life? – we find the whole thought process behind this ‘hunt’ very disturbing. What does this teach kids for the future ?

Stop Sickening School ‘Possum Hunt’ Where Children are Encouraged to Kill

Children as young as 5 years old are urged to kill innocent possums in a sickening fundraiser for Orini Combined School in Taupiri, New Zealand, scheduled for September 29, 2017.

“We don’t care if you trap ‘em or shoot ‘em. it’s all on to clean up the possum vermin in Orini and raise some funds…all welcome to join in the family fun,” reads the twisted event poster.

The barbaric event — for grades 0 through 8 — is horrifically cruel to the possum victims, and also teaches children at a very young age that slaughtering animals is not only OK, but a fun and rewarding activity. The children are even awarded prizes for killing the heaviest possum and the possum with the “best fur.”

Sign the petition demanding that Orini Combined School cancel this horrific event, and instead teach children that animals are not “vermin,” but thinking, feeling beings that deserve respect, not violence.